Senate approves short budget extender after debate over payments to National Guard in prisons

The New York State Senate on April 2 approved an appropriation extender to keep state government operating through Monday at noon, voting Aye 60 to 0 after extended debate over how the package pays state workers and National Guard members deployed to correctional facilities.

Senator Krueger, the sponsor, said during debate that “this 1 lasts through Monday at noon.” The extender was offered as Assembly Bill 7635 substituted for Senate Bill 71-56 and carried a message of necessity and appropriation at the desk. The measure was laid aside after acceptance and later brought up on the controversial calendar and adopted.

Why it matters: the short extension preserves pay and operations while lawmakers continue multi-party negotiations on the larger state budget. Several senators used floor time to press for more detail about allocations in the extender, arguing the package includes sizable sums without a public breakdown and raising concerns about public-safety and fiscal tradeoffs tied to using the National Guard in prisons.

The debate focused on a $45 million line in the extender described on the floor as funding for salaries. Senators asked whether a large share of that amount is for National Guard members assigned to correctional facilities. Senator Krueger said staff would try to provide a later breakdown; she also said she did not have full details about ongoing three-way budget discussions at that table. “Work continues through the weekend,” Krueger said, adding she was “more optimistic” than earlier in the week that full budget bills could be ready next week.

Senator O’Mara voiced frustration about the lack of detail. “We don't even know what's being allocated for. That's concerning to me,” he said, adding that while he would vote for the extender to avoid a shutdown, members deserved clearer information even for a short measure.

Other senators pressed specifically on the use and cost of National Guard personnel in correctional facilities. Senator Steck said the chamber was “paying National Guard money in this extender, and I'm concerned that going forward, we're gonna have months and months and months of National Guard, a hundred million dollars a month in there,” language she attributed to prior public statements by the governor. Steck also urged exploring whether rehiring previously fired corrections officers could be a less costly alternative; on the floor a figure was raised that rehiring 2,000 officers at median pay would cost roughly $20 million a month compared with the governor's $100 million monthly estimate for Guard costs.

Senator Barello echoed concerns about the fiscal impact and argued the governor could “federalize those National Guard troops” to shift the cost to the federal government, a point he said the governor had not taken.

Senators sought factual clarifications from staff during the exchange. Senate staff said there are “6,000 National Guard approximately still covering the correctional facilities.” Krueger and others said they would try to obtain a more specific breakout of the $45 million and of how much of that sum is paying Guard personnel versus other state employees.

The measure passed on a roll call recorded Aye 60. The Senate then completed the controversial calendar and adjourned until Monday, April 7 at 11 a.m.

What was not decided or specified: the extender itself does not resolve the larger budget negotiations that remain underway; senators on the floor repeatedly noted that many policy and dollar details were still the subject of inter-branch discussions and not contained in the short extension. Several senators asked for follow-up information about exact dollar breakouts and the ongoing use of the National Guard in corrections, which staff promised to attempt to provide after the session.